By kiki
In the last
few weeks I read two great booking books. Let me say here that I am not a big
fan of boxing books because there is not much I can learn from them, after all
I’ve been around the sport for over 65 Years, first as a very young fan, than
as an amateur boxer, amateur/pro trainer/manager, amateur matchmaker and the
list goes on.
Now the
books: first I read “Mexican American Boxing in Los Angeles” authored by Gene
Aguilera. Gene’s book is a pictorial of Mexican American boxers that practiced
their trade in Los Angeles and Southern California rings. Gene book covers Los
Angeles Mexican American boxing from the 1900’s to 1990’s. I was most
interesting in reading the 1940-’50-’60-’70 and 80’s chapters because that was
my time in boxing...I read about many of the now forgotten fighters that I grew
up watching at venues like the Olympic Auditorium, Hollywood Legion Stadium and
the Ocean Park Arena et al….Gene did a great job researching the lives and
careers of the boxers he covered in his book. Gene’s book is not about one
boxer and any fight in particular. He also didn’t give us his opinion on any
boxer or their fights that he wrote about, I liked that.
I next read
“Becoming Taz: Writing from the Southpaw
stance” authored by former professional boxer, Jeff Bumpus. In his book
Jeff writes about his career as a pro boxer. He tells us what he went through in
trying to be a champion in a very tough sport, only to fall short of his
goal….He digs deep into every nook and cranny of the boxing business, he find
that as a prospect you are cater to, only to lose favor as your career starts
sliding down…What I liked about Jeff’s book is the human element he inserted in
his book, his sister ready to stand up to some loud mouth “motherfucker”, his
dad banging his fist on the ring apron ready to take on any sonofabitch that bad
mouth his son. Yes, the book is a boxing book, but also about human nature.
As you open
Jeff’s book you’ll find after the title page a page with this ‘To the dreamers and the journeymen’ Like
all of us, Jeff, you might had been a dreamer, but you were not a journeyman
fighter, you beat some top prospects, who were also dreamers, you fought great
champions and some good contenders, you won some and lost some, and that my
friend does not make you a journeyman boxer, what it does make you is a quality
fighter.
I highly
recommend both books.
